Outside shaft washer with stacked Dado??

[BadeMillsap]

I have always done the very few dado's I required with my router ... that would be the 4 or so a year. Regardless, with all the recent "dado chatter" I felt unclothed and purchased the Avenger 6" set Amazon recently had on sale.

Having received and installed the stack to cut a 1/2" dado per the instructions with the set (the two outside blades and 2 1/8" cutters between) I discovered that there was no room on the arbor for the outside retainer washer that normally goes on the outside of the single saw blade.

My question is ... is this to be expected with the use of a stacked Dado? Is it safe to use without that washer ... must be I suppose, I am still 10 fingered and two eyed and cut several Dado's just to see the chips fly.

Thank you for this truely great resource of a forum!
Bade

[mschrank]

No, don't use it without the outside washer. If you look closely, you'll see that there are two spacers next to the inside washer on the arbor. Remove one or both of these. You'll want to have both washers on either side of the dado stack, and make sure none of the blades/chippers are resting on the arbor threads.

Have fun and be safe

[Tom Miller]

For any and all dados, I take both spacers off the arbor first, then I install the blades/chippers, with the big washers on each side. I install one or the other, or both spacers so that the arbor nut is fully threaded without bottoming out.

Regards,
Tom
(Dang! You have won this round, Mike, but as God is my witness I will never be beat again!)

(Two cups of espresso every morning, why do you ask?)

[LCHIEN]

I've been known to have left off the outside blade washer when using a stack dado and
have lived to talk about it.